#3
Intelligent Design?Intelligent Design?! SLOWLY I TURNED, STEP BY STEP, STEP BY STEP, I CREPT UPON HIM AND WHEN I SAW THE SNEER ON HIS FACE, I STRUCK, AND I GRABBED HIM AND I SHOOK HIM AROUND. That's what I did with him.

#4
Gentleman, when you look at a beautiful woman and look how perfectly they are designed to drive us crazy, take our money, and leave us gasping for air, it has to be intelligent design. Nothing like that happens by accident.

[Egypt Independent] Hundreds Ultras Al-Masry members and Port Fouad residents blocked the road leading to the eastern side of Port Said with tree trunks and flaming tires on Tuesday.

The move is part of ongoing acts of civil disobedience in Port Said Governorate as protesters demand an investigation into the deaths of demonstrators during recent violence and compensation for victim's families.

Violence erupted after the verdict in the Port Said football massacre sentenced 21 people to death in January.

The military attempted to convince protesters to let port workers and container trucks through, but demonstrators refused to listen.

In related news, the Strong Egypt Party, headed by former presidential hopeful Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh, froze its activities in Port Said in solidarity with the demands of protesters.

In a statement issued Tuesday, the party said, "Due to the events Port Said Governorate is experiencing since 26 January, upon which a number of innocent people and some of the finest sons of the city were martyred, and as perpetrators have not been defined until now and as opacity and non-transparency surround investigations in these events, the Strong Egypt Party in Port Said [is acting in] solidarity with the legitimate demands of Port Said."

The party backed the formation of an independent rights committee to investigate the violence as well as adequate compensation for victims and their family members, it added.

In other news, Tunisian security services on Monday arrested a man for allegedly vandalising a statue of slain opposition leader Chokri Belaid, Shems FM reported. Tunisian artists had installed the memorial in El Menzah, the site of Belaid's February 6th killing, just hours before it was demolished Sunday night.

[FRANCE24] Seven Frenchies have been kidnapped in Cameroon, French President François Hollande confirmed on Tuesday. FRANCE 24's sister network Radio La Belle France International had earlier reported that those kidnapped were taken by gunnies on cycle of violences.

#1
Obviously someone did not get the memo that kidnapping French citizens is a bad idea.

Pierre and the other rough men ready to do violence from the Legion and other equally nasty and capable groups in the French Military will come knocking and they are not bringing flowers and cake.

After the Mali incursion and the attempted hostage rescue, I have to take back most things I have said about the French. Since Villapain left the foreign ministry, the attitude has become more aggressive.

The Moslem riots in France were a national turning point in their policies toward Islam and Islamonutjobs.

The abduction highlights the growing risk of attacks on French nationals and interests in Africa since Paris sent forces into Mali to oust Islamist rebels occupying the country's north.

"French special forces came in yesterday from N'Djamena to help with the investigation. They left yesterday and came back today," Augustine Fonka Awa, governor of Cameroon's Far North Region told Reuters by telephone."

[An Nahar] Nigeria on Tuesday charged 15 Russian sailors nabbedMaw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! since October with illegally bringing weapons into the west African nation that is awash with black-market fire arms.

The crew of the MV Myre Seadiver were temporarily denied bail by Lagos High Court Judge Okechukwu Okeke, with a final ruling on the bail application set for February 25.

The ship was seized on October 19 off the coast of Lagos by a naval patrol which also detained its 15 crew members.

Weapons found on the vessel included 14 AK-47 rifles with 3,643 rounds of ammunition as well as 22 Benelli MR1 rifles with 4,955 rounds of ammunition.

The intended destination or planned use of the arms was not clear.

In December, Russia's foreign ministry said it had reached a deal to secure the release of the sailors, explaining that Nigeria had agreed to drop the case to preserve cordial relations between the two nations.

#1
From what I can glean from open-source, the Seadiver was an 'arsenal ship'; a floating armory for the oil fields that it worked in. Its last op-area was over in the Indian Ocean region. It was seized while in transit.

Apparently somebody either refused to pay off the West Africans, or was slow in paying them.

[Guardian Ng] FRESH violence erupted in Borno State on Monday and Tuesday, as gunnies suspected to be members of Boko Haram... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... sect, in separate operations, torched the Konduga Divisional Police Station, killing an inspector (name withheld) and two others in Lassa town.

Meanwhile,...back at the barn, Bossy had come up with a new idea... the Federal High Court, Abuja Division, Tuesday rejected a bid by Senator Ali Ndume to stop his trial for alleged acts of terrorism and sponsorship of the violent Boko Haram Islamic sect.

In a related development, President Francois Hollande...the Socialist president of La Belle France, and a fine job he's doing of it... confirmed that seven Frenchies from one family, including four children, were yesterday kidnapped in Northern Cameroun and said he suspected a Nigerian group was responsible, according to the Agence La Belle France Presse (AFP).

The gunnies, according to an eyewitness, used Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and petro-bombs in torching the cop shoppe and vehicles packed in the place. Konduga and Lassa towns are 40 kilometres east and 195 kilometres south of Maiduguri, the state capital, and suspected hideouts for the Boko Haram sect.

The source told The Guardian that the gunnies took the coppers at Konduaga unawares when they stormed the place, disclosing that the official vehicle of the slain police officer along with several other vehicles at the station were also set ablaze.

At Lassa, police sources also said that gunnies had on Monday evening stormed two houses and killed a member of a vigilance group and farmer. A Lassa resident claimed that the victims were alleged to be informants to the security agents. The State Police Public Relations Officer, Gideon Jibrin, confirmed the incident, adding, however, that no arrests had been made.

Meanwhile,...back at the sea battle, the Terror of the Baltic's career had come to an abrupt and watery end... Ndume had filed an application praying for an interim stay of action to enable him pursue his appeal seeking to upturn two interlocutory orders made by the trial court. In his ruling, however, Justice Gabriel Kolawole refused his application for interim stay. Instead, he granted Ndume 60 days to prosecute his appeal.

The matter is therefore adjourned to May 6 for mention while the accused/applicant would continue to enjoy his bail. The court also admitted three DVDs that contained alleged record of communication between the accused/applicant and the Boko Haram members.

On the issue of kidnap of tourists in Cameroun, Hollande said: "What is most probable is they were taken to Nigeria," adding that they were seized by a Nigeria-based "terrorist group that we know well." The tourists were reportedly kidnapped by faceless myrmidons in Northern Cameroun, near the border with Nigeria, a source close to the French Embassy in Yaounde said.

"Seven Frenchies were captured today by men, apparently on cycle of violences, in the Camerounian locality of Dadanga on the frontier with Nigeria," the source said.

[An Nahar] Protesters clashed with Bahraini police on Tuesday at a memorial service for a teenager killed last week in demonstrations marking the second anniversary of a Shiite-led uprising, witnesses said.

Police fired tear gas and stun grenades to disperse hundreds of people who gathered in the Shiite-populated village of Daih, near Manama, to pay tribute to Hussein al-Jaziri, the witnesses said.

The 16-year-old was killed in Daih on Thursday as rallies were staged on the anniversary of the start of the uprising on February 14, 2011. A policeman was also killed on the same day at al-Sahla village, also near the capital.

Protesters on Tuesday called for the ouster of Bahrain's king, shouting "Down Hamad," according to the witnesses.

The interior ministry, in a message posted on Twitter, said security forces dispersed "saboteurs" who had briefly blocked traffic on a road near Manama after the memorial service.

Two armed suspects were killed in an exchange of gunfire with a Mexican Army road patrol in Nuevo Laredo, according to Mexican news accounts.

According to a news report posted on the website of Milenio news daily, the shootout took place near the intersection of Calle Esfinge and Bulevar Canseco in Reservas Territoriales colony.

The two suspects were travelling aboard a Volkswagen Jetta sedan when the shootout took place. The report suggested more than the two suspects were aboard the vehicle when the gunfight took place. Soldiers found two AR-15 and two AK-47 rifles aboard the vehicle after the shootout.

Separately, three unidentified Tamaulipas state government employees were wounded in Ciudad Victoria -- Tamaulipas' state capital -- when two explosive devices, presumably grenades, were detonated Tuesday afternoon near the Palacio Gobierno which is located near the intersection of calles 15th and Hidalgo. Twitter reports say two grenades were detonated.

According to a news report which appeared on the website of Milenio, the attack took place at around 1635 hrs.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com

[FRANCE24] A paratrooper with the French Foreign Legion, Harold Vormezeele, has been killed in clashes in Mali, French President François Hollande said Tuesday. Twenty Islamists were also killed in an ongoing operation in the Ifoghas mountains.

[Dawn] Unidentified motorcyclists rubbed out an official of the special branch of police department here on Monday.

Arshad Iqbal, a head constable in special branch police, was the sixth intelligence official, who fell prey to assassination in the district.

Police officials recalled that the incident occurred a month after the killings of Zulfiqar Bangash, station house officer of Chota Lahor City cop shoppe, and Khanan Khan, a sub-inspector of Intelligence Bureau.

Javed Khan, also a head constable in special branch police, had survived a similar attack by unidentified motorcyclists.

Sources said that Arshad Iqbal left his home for office in the district headquarters Swabi on a cycle of violence. Two motorcyclists sprayed him with bullets when he reached Gar Akakhel region, they added. He was killed on the spot and the assailants managed to escape, sources said.

"The continued killing of intelligence officials has aggravated the situation. We should take extra precautionary measures to avoid further losses," said a police officer.

An FIR was registered in Zaida City cop shoppe against the assailants. The dear departed official was laid to rest at his ancestral graveyard at Gar. He left behind three sons and two daughters.

[Dawn] Assistant Political Agent Landi Kotal Khalid Mumtaz Kundi died on Tuesday from injured sustained when jacket wallahs struck his office a day earlier during a meeting to discuss looming general elections, officials said.

Kundi, a deputy of Khyber Agency Political Agent Mutahir Zeb, died in a military hospital in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire..

"They operated on him for several hours overnight but several pieces of shrapnel had entered his body and he died," a security official told AFP.

Officials in the Khyber administration confirmed his death.

Six people have now died as a result of the attack, in which two suicide bombers stormed the Khyber administration's compound in Peshawar as Zeb chaired a meeting on arrangements for the elections.

[Dawn] Nine people were killed in different incidents of violence in Karachi-- the restive southern metropolis of Pakistan-- on Tuesday.

A 28-year-old man, Dilshad son of Muhammad Hanif, who was injured in an armed attack by unidentified motorcycle riders in Korangi's Gulzar Colony last night, breathed his last at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC).

Police said the man was sitting at the shop when the incident took place.

Separately, an office-bearer of Muttahida Ulema Council, 42 year-old Tauqeer Hassan son of Sanaullah was killed by unidentified armed men in Bihar Colony, Orangi Town within the precincts of Pakistan Bazaar police station.

His aunt Taranum Banu was also injured in the incident. The body and injured were brought to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for an autopsy and treatment respectively.

Police said the victim was standing outside his home when unidentified armed men shot him dead on the spot.

The Managing Director Pakistan Machine Tool Factory, Muhammad Ashraf Parvaiz was killed and General Manager Mohammad Kashif injured in firing by unidentified armed men in Bhains Colony, within the jurisdiction of Sukhan police station.

The incident took place when the factory officials were leaving in their car.

Similarly, 30-year-old Safdar Ali Kazmi son of Waqar Ali Kazmi was gunned down by unidentified armed men near airport signal, within the remit of Airport police station.

A 50-year-old man, identified as Ejaz Siddiqui son of Ishfaq Siddiqui was killed by a gun fire by unknown armed men in Korangi Industrial Area.

Meanwhile,...back at the chili cook-off, Chuck and Manuel's rivalry was entering a new and more dangerous phase... four people were killed in a firing incident at a mobile phone market in Landhi area of the city.

Initial reports suggest, a man opened indiscriminate firing at the mobile market of Daud Chowrangi Landhi, killing four people.

Police arrested the accused and shifted bodies to a hospital and began probe.

[Dawn] A six-member parliamentary delegation of the government reached an agreement with Quetta sit-in participants on Tuesday, after which nationwide protests were called off, DawnNews reported.

The government representatives accepted most of the demands made by the sit-in participants, with the notable exception of calling in the army in Quetta. The major demand of the protestors accepted by the government was that targeted operations would be conducted with the involvement of Army personnel.

Earlier on, relatives and members of the Hazara community had refused to bury the victims of the Kirani road incident claiming that the protests would continue until Quetta was handed over to the army. However,if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well... upon appeal of the Shia Ulema, the Kirani Road protesters have now decided to call off the sit-in.

The Shia Ulema announced in a presser that burial of the blast victims would now be held at 9 am on Wednesday.

Protesters all over the country have demand that the army be called in Quetta and take immediate action against the bad boy Death Eater group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ..., which in recent months has targeted Shias, mainly the Hazara community of Balochistan...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...The team comprised of Federal Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, PPP MNA Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, PPP MNA Nadeem Afzal Chan, PPP Senator Sughra Imam, PPP MNA Yasmeen Rehman and Federal Minister for Political Affairs Maula Bakhsh Chandio.

The sit-in had been called by the Majlis Wahdatul Mohammedaneen (MWM) , Balochistan Shia Conference and Milli Yakjehti Council, who held successful negotiations with the government delegation.

An assistant village leader was killed in a drive-by shooting in Pattani province on Tuesday morning. The victim was identified as Somsak Surasith, an assistant village chief.

Witnesses said that Somsak was traveling on his motorcycle on a rural road when a terrorist gunman riding pillion on another motorcycle shot at him with handgun. Somsak was hit in the head and torso and died on the spot. Police blamed separatist terrorists militants.

In Khok Pho district, a school teacher was shot and seriously injured late Monday night. Police said Saman E-so was returning home in a pick-up truck when a group of terrorists men in another pick-up truck opened fire at his vehicle. Mr Saman was admitted to the hospital. Doctors said he was now out of danger.

Early Tuesday morning, a former paramilitary ranger was injured in a drive-by shooting in Yala province. Police said Marase Saekaela was traveling by motorcycle on a rural road in his village when he was shot by a terrorist gunman on another motorcycle. The terrorists assailants then fled.

In Narathiwat province, a 60-man combined police and military force raided a house before dawn and nabbed two suspects wanted for bombings and arson.

The house was reported to be a hideout of a group of RKK terrorists militants led by Repae-ing Useng who took part in an attack on a marine base on Feb 13 in which 16 terrorists militants were killed.

As the authorities approached the house three terrorists men fled into the forest. Two others terrorists remained behind and surrendered.

The first terrorist man was identified as Isueman Jehama. He is wanted on warrants for a bombing in 2008 in which eight policemen were wounded and another security related incident. He is also thought to be one of the terrorists insurgents who attacked a marine oupost on the morning of Feb 13. The other man is Ali Baka. A warrant was issued earlier for his arrest for setting fire to a school in 2007.

A suspected terrorist militant threw a hand grenade at soldiers doing evening exercises Tuesday and the blast injured eight of the troops.

Two suspected terrorists insurgents drove a motorcycle past Wat Lak 5 at 6 p.m. as soldiers were doing physical training at the temple field. One of the terrorists motorcyclists tossed an M-26 grenade over the temple wall into the group of soldiers, injuring eight.

The Al Nusrah Front for the People of the Levant, al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, released video today that shows numerous IED, or roadside bomb, attacks against Syrian military personnel. The group claims that in one attack, it "simultaneously detonated 50 explosive devices on a Syrian military convoy in the Eastern Ghotah area of Damascus," according to a summary of the video by the SITE Intelligence Group, which obtained and translated the video. The attack reportedly took place on Dec. 6, 2012.

The video above, from SITE, shows the attack in question. It is difficult to determine how many bombs were detonated. I was able to count 35 distinct plumes of smoke. At 0:36, you can see a car explode (the video is filmed from a distance). The Al Nusrah Front cameraman also filmed the aftermath of the attack; about 10 vehicles were destroyed or so badly damaged that they were left behind.

I've been following the war in the Iraqi and Afghan theaters for years, and cannot recall such a spectacular IED event. I've heard reports of upwards of 20 IEDs daisy-chained together and detonated, but the attack in the video is by far the biggest that I am aware of.

This attack says quite a bit about the resources and capabilities of the Al Nusrah Front. Without a doubt, Syria has become one of the primary theaters in al Qaeda's global jihad.

#3
More irony. Iran supports the Assad regime. Iran has also been instrumental in supplying IEDs to Iraq and Afghanistan which have been used against us. The rebels have turned the technology on Iran-backed Syria. One can hope some of these convoys are Iranian.

#5
Yes they will both losewhen the fighting is over, Assad is gone and the Moslem Brotherhood steps into the vacuum and squashes all of the various groups that fought for his departure...Al Nusrah included.

#8
Looks like the fuel truck survived. A lot of people in the vehicles made it out with minimal harm. Did the rebel IED detonating personnel follow up with an attack and take out the Syrian military personnel? IOW, did they capitalize on their pyrotechnic show?

#9
More irony. Iran supports the Assad regime. Iran has also been instrumental in supplying IEDs to Iraq and Afghanistan which have been used against us. The rebels have turned the technology on Iran-backed Syria. One can hope some of these convoys are Iranian.

I don't see the irony. Setting a bunch of bombs to detonate on cue from a radio signal ain't brain surgery. If it were, the Iranians wouldn't have figured it out. I think there's this misperception that weapon technology is this black art that non-Western primitives can't figure out. During the Afghan rout of the British expedition almost 200 years ago, the Afghans were using rifles that outranged British weaponry, and the Afghans were even more illiterate than they are today.

#10
For a military convoy there sure were a lot of civilian vehicles. Assad must be running out of eq1uipment. Syria, the 21st century Lebannon.

We have only the jihadists' word that it was a military convoy. I think attacks like this are less likely in Syria, simply because the traditional remedy, probably applied with some vigor by the Syrian state, has been to kill everyone living within some distance of the attacks. It worked for France during the Napoleonic Wars and it worked for Germany during WWII.

#12
It worked for France during the Napoleonic Wars and it worked for Germany during WWII.

Well, not quite. On the Napoleonic Wars, Chandler, David, Greenhill Books, London 1994, Chapter 9, Wellington in the Peninsula: A Reassessment, pg 159-60. It has been estimated that the guerrillas at any one time never numbered more in total than between 36,500 and 50,000 under arms; yet they have been credited with causing an average of thirty French deaths a day. Thus, of the 240,000 Frenchmen who died in Spain, some 45,000 can be attributed to direct battle action, 76,650 to guerrillas, and the balance to disease and accidental causes. King Joseph's aide, General Bigarre, put the figure of French deaths from guerrilla action as high as 180,000 men over five years, and total guerrilla loses over the same period as under 25,000 - but his estimates are probably exaggerated on both counts.

[An Nahar] Salafist tough guys and Kurdish militias have ceased hostilities in the northern Syrian city of Ras al-Ain after sealing an accord that will see them fight together against the regime, activists said Tuesday.

Intermittent and sometimes deadly festivities have taken place between the two sides since rebels entered the majority Kurdish city, located on the border with Turkey, several months ago.

A statement was issued at the weekend detailing the terms of the final accord between the rebel Free Syrian Army and the Kurdish popular committees.

A Kurdish activist from Ras al-Ain confirmed to Agence La Belle France Presse over the Internet on Tuesday that "there have been no confrontations following the agreement."

"Hostilities ended between the two parties a week ago and yesterday things were calm. The number of battalions in the city has decreased a lot and those that remain are stationed at the entrances," he said, giving his name only as Hevidar.

Sunday's agreement, which was brokered by prominent Christian dissident Michel Kilo and other opposition activists, calls for the "complete withdrawal of military forces and displays of arms from the city", said the statement.

Ras al-Ain would be governed by a civilian council, which would also manage the border crossing with Turkey in accordance with both parties, the statement added.

The Kurdish fighters and rebels also agreed on "cooperation and coordination between the Free (Syrian) Army and the people's protection forces to liberate cities that remain under regime control," it said.

[An Nahar] Ten children were among at least 23 people killed in an apparent surface-to-surface missile strike on the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, a monitoring group said on Tuesday.

"It is likely a surface-to-surface missile strike" hit Jabal Badro on the edge of Aleppo late on Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said

Ten children aged under 16 years and three women were among the dead, and the "toll is likely to rise as bodies are being rescued from under the rubble," the Britannia-based Observatory said, adding that people were critically injured.

There were no planes overhead when the missile hit, according to residents cited by the Observatory, and the extent of the destruction indicated a surface-to-surface missile was likely used, director Rami Abdel Rahman told Agence La Belle France Presse.

Abu Hisham, an Aleppo-based citizen journalist who spoke to AFP via the Internet, said "housing in the district was informally built. It took one surface-to-surface rocket to destroy an entire neighborhood."

Video footage and photographs shot by activists in Aleppo, scene of fierce fighting since the army launched an all-out assault to stop a rebel advance on Syria's second city on July 20, showed massive destruction in Jabal Badro.

Amateur video posted online by the anti-regime Aleppo Media Center showed crowds of people gathering around hills of rubble and a bulldozer shoveling the debris as residents searched for relatives.

"I swear to God! I rescued a baby aged just two months from the rubble!" cried an unidentified man interviewed by an amateur cameraman.

AFP could not authenticate the video.

Meanwhile,...back at the wreckage, Captain Poindexter wished he had a cup of coffee. Even instant would do... two mortar shells fired by "terrorists" went kaboom! near the Tishreen presidential palace in the west of the Syrian capital on Tuesday, state news agency SANA reported.

The mortars "landed near the southern wall of Tishreen palace, only causing damage", SANA quoted an unnamed official as saying, blaming "terrorists" for the attack.

Activists have reported the army's use of surface-to-surface missiles on various targets in northern Syria since late 2012.

A security source in Damascus...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... told AFP late last year that such missiles were a Syrian-made version of the Scud, and NATO...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... has since reported ballistic missiles being used in Syria.

A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.